After going missing in the rugged
Namadgi National Park (NNP) for 3 days, missing bushwalker, Karina
Scott, was located yesterday by an aerial search team that was part
of a massive land search operation in which Rivers Unit volunteers
also participated.
On Day 1 of the SES search (Friday),
Rivers unit volunteers, made up part of the ‘extreme team’ and
battled some extremely rugged, overgrown, mountainous, bush terrain
that would challenged the most experienced and heartiest of
bushwalkers. It was Day 2, just as crews (including a team from
Rivers) were starting to hit the ground, that the remarkable,
amazing call came through.
The Find
At about 9:10am yesterday morning, the
Jindabyne survey helicopter, which was our only airborne search
asset yesterday, radioed in that they had spotted a woman waving
desperately at them. She was approx 30m off the track near the
intersection of the Nursery Swamp and Rendezvous Creek tracks, which
was about 1km from the car park on Orroral Rd.
While the helicopter hovered over the
woman, the ambo who was at the search base was despatched to her
location (or as near as he could get), as was a car full of SRS
coppers. The coppers sprinted from the road all the way up the hill
to her location. She was by that time reported to be sitting on the
track waiting for them.
Back at the search base, we didn’t get
our hopes up. The chance that this woman, who had been woefully
inexperienced in bushwalking and had been dreadfully unprepared, was
now walking and waving after 3 days and nights in that cold, densely
forested terrain, seemed just to remote. But then the cops reached
her and confirmed that she was indeed our missing bushwalker.
Southcare was called in (by both the
ambo and the coppers separately) to get her out. Luckily it still
had its medivac pallet on board after a job during the night and was
at its base waiting to be deployed to the search anyway.
The woman, Karina Scott, was examined
by the ambo and found to be extremely well given the
circumstances. They took her to a landing zone (known simply as the
LZ) that had been identified by Southcare. With Craig Wilson and
the Tuggeranong crew blocking the road for Southcare, the chopper
landed and Karina Scott was taken to The Canberra Hospital for a
once-over. THE END.
Background
At approximately 10:40pm on Wednesday,
3rd September, Karina Scott, who had been bushwalking
alone Namadgi National Park (NNP), was reported as being overdue.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Territory and Municipal
Services (TAMS) Park rangers searched for her all day Thursday in
the mountainous area. After finding no success, the ACTSES,
including 5 Rivers Unit volunteers, was called in t assist in the
land search operation. At first light on Friday, 5th
Sep, the SES was despatched to the Orroral Valley Camping Ground,
which was to double as the search base for the duration of the
search
